By Nicholas Wansbutter, Esq.
At the outset of this post, I'd like to state for the record that I am against taking kids from their parents because their parents are teaching them something outside the mainstream liberalism -- even when that "something" is as equally antagonistic to the Catholic Faith as liberalism (be they Mormons, Nazis, or Mohammedans).
Apparently this weekend, Child and Family Services agents seized two young children from a home in the city I live. Their justification was that the parents were "filling their heads ... with messages of hate". In documents filed with the Court, they stated that "The children may be at risk due to the parents' behaviour and associates. The parents might endanger the emotional well-being of the children,". Here is the link to the story: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/story/4184003p-4773955c.html
I noticed this story on the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press as I was walking to work today. I of course do not support Nazism in any way, but the implications of this case could be of potential interest to traditionalist Catholics (in Canada, at least). Today they are seizing the children of neo-Nazis for "polluting children's minds" ... it seems to me that if they are successful with this it may help pave the way for future seizures of children who are being taught things contrary to "maintream" beliefs regarding certain sins that cry to heaven for vengeance (i.e. children of traditionalist Catholic families) under the auspices that this will "harm" the childrens' "emotional well-being".
I find it interesting to note in the article that is there is nothing that the police could find that could result in criminal charges. Keep in mind that Canada does have "hate crime laws". Yet the police had no evidence with which to charge these parents under said provisions. So they called in C.F.S. who has (in my view) an inordinate amount of power and no right to a fair hearing. They deal out their punishment (seizing your children with long-term damage to them) and later you get your "day in court". Of course, if we use a little more prudence than the Neo Nazi parents and don't send our children into public schools with "Vive Christus Rex" written on them, we may have better luck at staying "under the radar". I don't want to give too much significance to this event, but I shall try to follow the progress of this case -- the Judge's reasons for going one way or another could be significant.
Again, I do not support Nazism at all. I recognize it as an evil thing and I do not condone the parents' actions of indoctrinating their children with such ideology nor drawing swastikas on them in pen. That said, I find this new ground for seizing children (on top of seizure because of "abuse", i.e. corporal discpline) troubling. It is concerning to me that the government can start taking chilren because what their parents teach does not perfectly mesh with the prevailing "wisdom".
And I don't think this is a purely Canadian issue. Witness the experience of the Mormons down in Texas (cf. http://therule.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/400-children-taken-from-homes/; http://therule.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/sad-for-what-we-have-done/; and http://therule.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/flds-sarah-a-hoax/). I see the two situations as analogous.
Posted on the Feast of Sts. Primus & Felician, Martyrs, MMVIII
At the outset of this post, I'd like to state for the record that I am against taking kids from their parents because their parents are teaching them something outside the mainstream liberalism -- even when that "something" is as equally antagonistic to the Catholic Faith as liberalism (be they Mormons, Nazis, or Mohammedans).
Apparently this weekend, Child and Family Services agents seized two young children from a home in the city I live. Their justification was that the parents were "filling their heads ... with messages of hate". In documents filed with the Court, they stated that "The children may be at risk due to the parents' behaviour and associates. The parents might endanger the emotional well-being of the children,". Here is the link to the story: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/story/4184003p-4773955c.html
I noticed this story on the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press as I was walking to work today. I of course do not support Nazism in any way, but the implications of this case could be of potential interest to traditionalist Catholics (in Canada, at least). Today they are seizing the children of neo-Nazis for "polluting children's minds" ... it seems to me that if they are successful with this it may help pave the way for future seizures of children who are being taught things contrary to "maintream" beliefs regarding certain sins that cry to heaven for vengeance (i.e. children of traditionalist Catholic families) under the auspices that this will "harm" the childrens' "emotional well-being".
I find it interesting to note in the article that is there is nothing that the police could find that could result in criminal charges. Keep in mind that Canada does have "hate crime laws". Yet the police had no evidence with which to charge these parents under said provisions. So they called in C.F.S. who has (in my view) an inordinate amount of power and no right to a fair hearing. They deal out their punishment (seizing your children with long-term damage to them) and later you get your "day in court". Of course, if we use a little more prudence than the Neo Nazi parents and don't send our children into public schools with "Vive Christus Rex" written on them, we may have better luck at staying "under the radar". I don't want to give too much significance to this event, but I shall try to follow the progress of this case -- the Judge's reasons for going one way or another could be significant.
Again, I do not support Nazism at all. I recognize it as an evil thing and I do not condone the parents' actions of indoctrinating their children with such ideology nor drawing swastikas on them in pen. That said, I find this new ground for seizing children (on top of seizure because of "abuse", i.e. corporal discpline) troubling. It is concerning to me that the government can start taking chilren because what their parents teach does not perfectly mesh with the prevailing "wisdom".
And I don't think this is a purely Canadian issue. Witness the experience of the Mormons down in Texas (cf. http://therule.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/400-children-taken-from-homes/; http://therule.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/sad-for-what-we-have-done/; and http://therule.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/flds-sarah-a-hoax/). I see the two situations as analogous.
Posted on the Feast of Sts. Primus & Felician, Martyrs, MMVIII
|